Broccoli-Cheese Chowder

This satisfying remake of broccoli chowder benefits from the creamy texture of cooked potatoes and smooth, tangy reduced-fat sour cream instead of getting its richness from as much as a cup each of cream and cheese. Not only is the flavor vibrant, but a single serving gives you over half of the daily recommendation for vitamin C.

READER'S COMMENT:

"I love this soup, as it was a hit with my family as well. However, instead of doing the hand mash of the veggies I did a mid-level puree of about 1/3 and I added more chicken stock, as a "chowder" was just too chunky. Overall the flavors...

72 comments

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02/04/2012

Anonymous

Recommends this recipe

Simple, nutritious, satisfying

I had leftover baked potatoes from Sunday dinner and a head of brocoli in the fridge. What to do? This was the perfect recipe. I used the baked potato, which worked fabulously. I did add some crushed red pepper flakes and white pepper as added seasoning.

I was very surprised that this soup tasted as good as it did, with no butter & no heavy cream, etc. - we were pleasantly surprised. I plan on making it again next weekend. I even messed up slightly by trimming my broccoli but failing to separate florets from stems, so they went in the pot together, but it did not seem to make any difference. Also, when I blended the soup, I chose to use my immersion blender and just puree all of it (for ease); it tasted fine. I did add extra cheese to the soup, but would skip that next time, and just sprinkle a little extra for garnish to each bowl. Good, solid soup for cold days/nights.

After reading the other reviewers' problems with the low fat cheese and the potato, I had trepidations but it turned out fine. Living in Jordan, I had to substitute 1.5% low fat laban, sort of like Greek yogurt, for the low fat sour cream, and it worked well. I kept waiting for it to separate but it didn't and the flavor was what I wanted. I did use an immersion blender instead of following the instructions and that might have made it a bit thick. I also threw in a bit of parmesan. My husband kept complimenting the soup while he was eating it so I knew it was a hit. I'm trying to show my Dutch husband that we can eat healthy and still enjoy food. He'll eat anything with cheese in it but he has to watch his cholesterol and he tends to ignore vegetables. Voila!